Music and Familiarity

Research in musicology, music psychology and music education often draws upon the issue of familiarity as it affects our engagement with music. This book highlights theoretical and empirical considerations about familiarity through the perspectives of listening to and performing music, as well as through musicological enquiries. Part I, 'listening Perspectives', addresses theory concerning familiarity as it relates to listeners' behaviour in regulating their choice of everyday music; listeners' responses to music through concentrated, repeated listening across a period of time and how the concept is applied in a real-life situation, investigating the role of familiarity in levels of concert attendance. The use of music as an audio-analgesic is also examined through a study of music listening in a clinical setting. Part II, 'Musicological Perspectives', exposes the issue of familiarity from varied stances, including analytical, philosophical, practical, ethnomusicological and educational. Part III, 'Performance Perspectives', explores the effects of familiarity in relation to different aspects of the Western art and popular performance process, specifically through rehearsal, memorisation and performance itself. Focussing on ensemble rehearsal, the impact of working in established (familiar) and new (unfamiliar) groups is reviewed through comparative case studies. Moving to solo preparation, the development of a memorised performance is considered theoretically and in the light of empirical work that draws upon the influence of background educational and cultural differences in learning music. The elusive effects of repeated performances of the same work, and hence the experience of familiarity through performance itself, is documented through accounts of sensing the 'groove' in popular performance and philosophical reflective analysis of classical trio performances. This book will attract a wide academic readership and should appeal to scholars working in a number of fields, notably musicology (including theorists, analysts, philosophers and aestheticians), music psychology, music education and performance studies.